Word Origin & History

low M.E. lah (mid-12c.), from O.N. lagr "low," from P.Gmc. *lægaz (cf. O.Fris. lech, Du. laag, Ger. läge "low"), lit. "that which is lying flat;" related to O.E. licgan (see lie (v.)). Meaning "humble in rank" is from c.1200; "undignified" is from 1550s; sense of "dejected, dispirited" is attested from 1737. In reference to sounds, it is attested from early 15c. In geographical usage, it refers to the part of a country near the sea-shore (c.1300; cf. Low Countries "Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg," 1540s).

Example Sentences for lowing

There was a barking of dogs, a cackling of fowl, a lowing of cattle, all the noises that accompany a nation on the march.

Are not our lowing heifers sleeker than Night-swollen mushrooms?

The indistinct noises wafted on the breeze might be the lowing buffaloes.

Probably the first form of the story was only that they went joyfully, "lowing as they went."

Above the lowing and bellowing there would be a thunder of hoofs on the side opposite to that on which they were engaged.

But she knew the country too well; she knew the lowing of cattle, the milking, the ploughs.

I thought it was first the lowing of an aged cow, and then the yelping of a blind dog, unable to find its way.

The former were lowing, the latter neighing, in an unusual manner.

Bees were humming, grasshoppers were buzzing, the light wind was whispering, and cattle were lowing in the distance.

Ulrich yonder, at your head, can bear his nickname of Lowing with honor.